Flawed iOS 8’s Reset All Settings Option erases iCloud Docs

The MacRumors forum reported a serious flaw in iOS 8’s ‘Reset All Settings’ Option which causes the deletion of iCloud Drive documents.

The Fappening case has raised the question about the level of security offered by iCloud and other cloud storage services. Apple was criticized for the way its security experts managed the flaw in iCloud file storage service that, according to multiple sources, was exploited by hackers to steal nude photos of celebrities. The company has announced and implemented a series of security improvements to protect the users’ privacy with the new version of mobile operating system, iOS 8.0.1, including data encryption by default and two-factor authentication for the iCloud service.

But it would seem that the problems for Apple have not even finished with the launch of the new iOS 8 system, because experts discovered a new critical bug in the new mobile OS. The new critical vulnerability discovered in iOS 8.0.1 seems to be deleting data stored in the cloud without the user’s permission. The bug was first disclosed by MacRumors in a post titled “Bug in iOS 8’s ‘Reset All Settings’ Option Also Erases iCloud Drive Documents“, which reported the alert issued by many members of the popular forum.

“It appears that there may be a serious bug with the “Reset All Settings” option in iOS 8, causing users who activate the feature to lose all of their iWork documents stored in iCloud Drive. According to multiple posters on the MacRumors forums, using the “Reset All Settings” option under General –> Reset has caused documents to be permanently deleted from iCloud Drive. ” states the post.

The “Reset All Settings,” option is typically used to reset user’s network settings, but it seems that the functionality also deleting all user’s files from iCloud Drive. The effect is not intentional as reported under the General category in Settings for iOS 8, the Reset All Settings option is supposed to reset iOS device settings while retaining user’s data and media, as the option explicitly states that “No data or media will be deleted.”

Many users experienced the inconvenience, their documents were wiped out after users press the Reset All Settings button. According to the forum members, the problem is related to documents from iWork apps, such as Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

“In our own testing, using “Reset All Settings” deleted all iWork documents stored in iCloud Drive on the iPhone and on iCloud.com. After allowing time for syncing to a Mac running OS X Yosemite, all of the documents disappeared from that machine as well. Preview and TextEdit documents, which cannot be accessed on the iPhone, remained untouched on the Mac.” reported MacRumors as result of its test in the flaw.

Waiting for the fix from Apple, iOS 8 users are advised to avoid the use of the “Reset All Settings” option feature.

“Users who have iCloud Drive enabled may want to refrain from using the “Reset All Settings” option on their devices for the time being, in order to avoid accidentally erasing important documents stored in iCloud Drive.” closes the post on MacRumors.

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Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer.
Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US.
Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines.
Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.

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